August 28th 2023.
Ian Wright has expressed concern about Arsenal's defensive performance in their home game against Fulham. The Gunners found themselves a goal down after just one minute, but managed to draw level after 70 minutes with a penalty kick from Bukayo Saka. However, two minutes later, Eddie Nketiah put Arsenal in front, and it seemed that the game was in the bag.
Unfortunately, a piece of poor defending in the 87th minute allowed Joao Palhinha to latch onto a corner kick from Harrison Reed and score the equaliser. Wright believes that his former side are missing Gabriel Magalhães, a player who was a fixture in defence last season but who has not started any of Arsenal's opening league games this term.
Wright told Premier League Productions, ‘I know the fans are a little bit worried about Gabriel not playing, he gives us solidity in there and when they scored that goal at the death at the corner, it's something our big defender would be there [for].’ He added, ‘We don’t seem to be as confident in managing the game after we got back into it and went 2-1 up.’
Arsenal have opted to use Ben White in centre-half and Thomas Partey in a right-back role instead of Gabriel. Wright concluded, ‘There is a little bit of gelling still happening with Arsenal but we haven’t lost so you have to stay positive’. It remains to be seen whether the Brazilian will get more opportunities off the bench as the season progresses.
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